About OU Medicine

At OU Medicine, our mission is leading health care. Our vision is to be the premiere enterprise for advancing health care, medical education and research for the community, state and region. Through our combined efforts we strive to improve the lives of all people.

Children's Services

Education & Research

The College of Medicine is the largest component of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and is at the center of OU Medicine. Our mission is leading health care - in education, research and patient care.

Neuro-Humoral Mechanisms of Visceral Dysfunction

Pain affects more than 50 million Americans and is a frequent cause for people to visit a clinic. Approximately 45% of the population seeks medical help for pain at some point in their lives. Pain interferes with quality of life, sleep and productivity, and increases utilization of health care resources.

Of the pain experiences, visceral pain is a prominent symptom in the clinical setting and one of the main reasons that patients seek medical care. Treatment of visceral pain is particularly challenging because it is seen by physicians in various specialties and very little research has been done to address mechanisms. Furthermore, visceral pain does not often originate from a painful disease of a single internal organ but often results from concurrent algogenic conditions of more than one visceral source.

The purpose of our research program is to conduct research on Neuro-Humoral Mechanisms of Visceral Dysfunction to expand our knowledge base and to translate these findings into adequate treatment of patients who are suffering from visceral pain.